Improved water-wheel



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE E. HERBERT, OF OOHOOTON, NEW YORK.

I'M PROVED WATER-WH EEL.

Specification forming part of Letters4 Patent No. 15,977, dated October 28, 1856i.

To @ZZ whom t may concern:

Be it known that l, GEORGE E. W. HERBERT, of Oohocton, in the county of Steuben and State of New York1 have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Water-Wheels; and I hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 representsa vertical section of Fig. 2 in the line l 2 with an elevation of the wheel, and Fig. 2 a horizontal section of Fig. l in the line 2 `3 with part of the disk c broken 0E to show the form of the buckets.

The letters of reference indicatethe same parts in the different i'igures Wherever Vthey occur.

A is the flume, through which the water is admitted to the wheel B when the scroll passages O are opened. D is the main shaft revolving in a step E and supported in position by passing through aboxin the cross-piece F. The shaft D is inclosed in a hollow pillar or loose sleeve G, extending from the cover or top piece H of the wheel-casing to the crosspiece F. The buckets a are in the present instance eight in number. Their upper edges are straight and tangential toa circle of about twice the diam eter of theshaft D, their front edges are inclined to the axis of motion, and their lower edges are convex upontheir faces. The buckets are secured between two horizontal disks, the upper one c being perfect and the lower` one e having a circular opening t' for the outlet of the water. Those portions of the faces of the buckets extending from the periphery of the Wheel to the opening of the disk e form an angle with the plane of the upper disk of about seventy degrees. From this point the curves of the lower edges gradually increase the angle until at their junction near the centerthey are almost perpendicular. The lower edges of the buckets between the opening 'L' and the shaft are slightly arched to allow freer egress to the water and to lessen the obstruction from backwater when the stream is high. The water finally escapes through the opening lo in the bottom of the fiume A. The scroll passages O are in the present instance fourin number, and are each formed of parts of eccentric circles. The supply of Water which is admitted through them to the buckets of the Wheel is regulated and controlled by the gates n at their' respective entrances. Each bucket has at its outer edge a ange l, extending from one disk to the other, its curvature corresponding thereto.

The disks or heads c and @retain the water upon the buckets and diminish friction.

In operation the water, being simultaneously admitted upon all sides of the wheels by opening the gates, strikes upon the inclined faces of the buckets. The flanges Z prevent the water which has entered t-he wheel from being thrown by centrifugal force against the current entering through the scroll passages and thus impeding it, and by checking the water near the periphery of the wheel, where it exerts most force, increases materially the power of the Wheel, While, combined with the inclined position of the buckets, yas before described, the gravity or" the water is allowed to act, which still further increases the efficiency of the Wheel.

Havingthus fully described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

The flanges Z, constructed as herein described, in combination with the inclined position of the buckets @substantially as specilied, and for the purposes set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification before two subscribing witnesses.

G. E. W. HERBERT.

Witnesses:

fJOHN S. HOLLINGSHEAD,

CHAS. EVERETT. 

